"No one swears they’re leaving London, New York, or Paris because they can’t play Pong at a crosswalk," states Feargus O'Sullivan at CityLab. Playable Cities, a concept that emerged in Bristol, is slowly spreading over the world and is subject to wide appraisal. A 2014 Guardian profile on the Playable City considered the initiative "a human response to the coldness and anonymity of the urban environment". O'Sullivan's article, however, points out that "turning infrastructure into flashy playgrounds only results in cutesy distractions from real issues."
Both articles are available online (see links below).